I Saw Dr. Higgins Today

This was my final visit to the plastic surgeon and like the previous visits it was entertaining and full of positive information. Dr. Higgins was very happy with how things look and said that if it wasn't for the underlying bone issue I would be cleared for contact sports or whatever else I wanted to do. No need for bandages any more, just the knee brace and crutches/walker/wheelchair.

He was visibly a little disappointed that my appointment with Dr. Brumback isn't until next week. He was hoping to know how the bone was doing and if the infection was gone. He was asking about that before he even looked at my leg. He's certainly not alone in that desire. Hopefully we will know something in less than a week.

I debated putting pictures up earlier because things looked a bit gruesome. Things still aren't pretty by anyone's stretch of the imagination, but relative to how things looked a few weeks ago I think things are looking really good.

So here are some photos so you can see how things look. I've only put thumbnails up so that if you don't care to see them you can ignore them. If you do want to check things out just click on each picture to enlarge it.




The large reddish oval on my knee is the area where the muscle flap was placed and covered with a skin graft. That area is still a bit swollen and will continue to shrink. The color will also fade and become more like the rest of my skin or a normal scar. The third picture is the scar up the back of my leg where Dr. Higgins gained access to my calf muscle to borrow a piece for the muscle flap. The forth picture that shows a big red rectangle next to my Micky Mouse tattoo is the donor site on my thigh where Dr. Higgins took skin to use for the graft. It too will fade in color and eventually just be a normal colored scar.

No one is going to be contacting me to become a Rockette or a leg model anytime soon that's for sure. Good thing I wasn't counting on either of those for a career path.